(Newser)
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Remember the controversy over the death of young Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich? It just took another tangled turn. A private investigator is suing Fox News, alleging that the network made up quotes from him to buttress its allegations that Rich leaked DNC emails and was murdered because of it. (Fox aired a story in May based on Rod Wheeler's investigation into the 27-year-old's death but retracted it a week later, saying it had failed to meet the network's standards.) The lawsuit by Wheeler also suggests that Fox let the White House, and perhaps President Trump himself, review the report before it aired, reports NPR. (See a copy of the lawsuit here.) Wheeler alleges that Fox worked in cahoots with the White House to push the story in order to dispute the notion that Russians had leaked the emails in order to help Trump's campaign.

Fox's news president, Jay Wallace, tells NPR there is no "concrete evidence" that Wheeler had been misquoted by reporter Malia Zimmerman. The White House didn't provide an immediate comment, per BuzzFeed. Wheeler was paid to conduct his investigation by wealthy Dallas investor and Trump supporter Ed Butowsky. In the lawsuit, Wheeler cites a text from Butowsky saying, "Not to add any more pressure but the president just read the article. He wants the article out immediately. It's now all up to you." Butowsky now says he was joking about Trump's involvement. Wheeler and Butowsky met with Sean Spicer at the White House about a month before the story aired to brief him about it, but Spicer says he agreed to the meeting mainly as a courtesy to Butowsky. Spicer says he's unaware of any contact they might have had with the president.

You don’t have to believe everything in that Seth Rich lawsuit. What’s been confirmed is bad enough.! Given Wheeler’s mutating role throughout this ugly saga, he cannot be considered a reliable narrator. So, no, you can’t believe everything his suit says. But some of it rings true. And some of it is now undeniable: An outrageously bogus news story was known about, and apparently not discouraged, within the West Wing well before it was published. And once it was published, it become endless fodder for the president’s staunchest defenders: Jones, Gingrich and, more than any other person, Fox’s Sean Hannity — who stopped hammering away at it only when Rich’s parents implored him to stop trashing their son’s name. One of the ugliest falsehoods of the current political era may have been cheered on by the White House. At the very least, it got tacit approval. And that’s bad enough. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/you-dont-have-to-believe-everything-that-seth-rich-lawsuit-whats-been-confirmed-is-bad-enough/2017/08/01/c7516060-76cb-11e7-8839-ec48ec4cae25_story.html?wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1

Bill Sherman

Aug 2, 2017 8:29 AM CDT

FN making stuff up? that's news? they do it on a daily basis. the gop - great old propaganda. FN also stands for -Fake News.